The Paramedic Method

Sentences that are clear and easy to read are more persuasive and more user-centered. The Paramedic Method, developed by Richard Lanham, is one of the best strategies for clarifying your sentences.  It helps:

  1. Reduce your word count by eliminating unnecessary words
  2. Activate your sentences by eliminating passive voice and redundancies
  3. Improve the overall readability of your sentences

Seven Simple Steps

  1. Circle the prepositions
  2. Draw a box around any “to be” verbs
  3. Ask, “Where’s the action?”  Underline it.
  4. Change the action into a simple verb
  5. Move the “doer” into the subject position
  6. Eliminate any unnecessary slow wind-ups
  7. Eliminate any redundancies

The Paramedic Method in Action

Consider this sample sentence:

In this paragraph is a demonstration of the use of good style in the writing of a report.

There’s nothing inherently ungrammatical about this sentence, but it certainly is hard to follow! This is the kind of sentence that benefit from the Paramedic Method. You can see how steps 1-4 would look below:

Sentence Using Paramedic Method

In step 5, we can identify that the “doer” of the action is the “paragraph.”

In step 6, we can see that “of the use of” is unnecessary.

In step 7, we can see that some of these prepositional phrases could be transformed into adjectives.

Based on these changes, we come up with the following sentence:

This paragraph demonstrates good style in report writing.

This new sentence is much simpler and much clearer. Remember, the goal in academic writing is to use the simplest expression that still conveys the entire idea. If you are discussing a very complex idea, a complex sentence is fine … even then, it doesn’t need to be unnecessarily complex for the sake of complexity.

Here’s another sentence that could use some more clarity:

The point that I wish to make is that the employees working at this company are in need of a much better manager of their money.

Again, the grammar here is fine. The issue is that this sentence is taking far too long to convey such a simple idea. Let’s apply the Paramedic Method!

Sentence Using Paramedic Method

In step 5, we can identify that the “doers” of the action are the “employees.”

In step 6, we can see that “the point that I wish to make” is unnecessary.

In step 7, we can see that some of these prepositional phrases could be transformed into adjectives.

Based on these changes, we come up with the following sentence:

This company’s employees need a much better money manager.

This sentence is significantly clearer than the original. Most importantly, it helps the reader focus on who is being discussed in the sentence — the company’s employees — as opposed to who is speaking — you. In academic writing, you are always assumed to be the speaker, so you do not typically need to hedge your claims with phrases like “the point that I wish to make is.”


Kaylan | 2019

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